In the panel discussion on the media, Duncan Greive from The Spinoff was the only speaker who brought any insight to bear. The contributions of the other participants – Mike McRoberts from NBR, TVNZ’s Te Aniwa Hurihanganui and moderator Michelle Duff – were shallow, predictable and carefully modulated to elicit murmurs of sympathy and agreement from the full hall.
It would have been a whole lot livelier if Sean Plunket, Michael Laws, Heather du Plessis-Allan, Peter Williams or even Barry Soper had been invited to speak, but that was never going to happen. Book festivals are not noted for their openness to ideas and opinions that challenge prevailing orthodoxies. There are audience sensibilities to be considered.
The preceding session on politics was a lot more rewarding. The subject was the turbulent politics of 2017-2023: the Ardern years. And while there was the same non-threatening quality about the speakers, two of them – Chris Finlayson and Trevor Mallard – at least spoke with the advantage of first-hand, close-up experience. Two journalists, Stuff’s Henry Cooke and the aforementioned Hurihanganui, seemed to be there to make up the numbers and didn’t have a great deal to contribute.
It was a crowd-pleasing session, deftly chaired by Toby Manhire from the Spinoff. Finlayson, nominally the right-wing voice on the panel, was never likely to upset anyone and was presumably invited for exactly that reason. He’s the Left’s favourite conservative: an old-school National Party liberal who quickly earned the crowd’s favour by making it clear he doesn’t have much, if anything, in common with the “Muppet” government (his term) that’s now in power. He remarked that because of the coalition government’s “blowback” on Maori issues, he now feels more like the opposition.
The fact that Finlayson has long been out of politics not only renders him acceptable to left-leaning book festival audiences - since he's no longer in a position of power - but frees him to be frank, all of which makes him ideal for the festival circuit. He’s an engaging raconteur and can be tartly humorous, as when he talked about the many “WTF moments” when National was chaotically in opposition, drolly referring to one former party leader as “Muller the Brief” and to another, Simon Bridges, as a shit.
It wasn’t the first time I’d heard Finlayson say that if he had won the then Labour-held Rongotai electorate, which he contested for National with no expectation of winning and plainly no desire to do so, he would have demanded a recount. It’s a good self-deprecating joke that bears repeating.
For his part, Mallard, having been Speaker during the anti-vax occupation of Parliament's grounds, was plainly concerned with putting a favourable spin on his involvement in that unprecedented brouhaha. He told the audience that a lot of “marginal people” were involved in the protest camp – people who had “gone down rabbit holes”, including mentally ill individuals he knew from his Hutt South electorate; in other words, nut cases and no-hopers.
I wonder if anyone else in the hall felt, as I did, that this was a less than empathetic way for a Labour MP – one who makes much of the fact that he represented the battlers from working-class Wainuiomata – to brush aside the concerns of people who are social casualties. Henry Cooke pointed out that many of the protesters had lost their jobs because of the vaccination mandate (although I don’t recall Stuff taking the trouble to make that clear at the time) and Te Aniwa Hurihanganui acknowledged that they were a “real mix of people”. Mallard justifiably copped a lot of flak for his arrogance and indifference to the protesters’ grievances during the occupation of Parliament’s grounds and I wondered on Saturday whether he had learned anything from the experience. Perhaps not.
He also criticised the police for taking too long to deal with the protest encampment (oh, so it was their fault, to paraphrase Basil Fawlty) and he defended the use of water sprinklers – which were seen, along with the notorious Mallard-instigated Barry Manilow broadcasts, as an attempt to dislodge the occupants – as being necessary to wash away human waste. That was a new one on me and I wondered whether it was a convenient justification post-event.
But the big surprise – one that even had the stranger next to me turning to me with a look of disbelief – was Mallard’s claim that the protest camp was funded by Russia. Yep, that’s right: Mallard reckoned someone paid for millions of dollars – yes, millions – worth of camping equipment that mysteriously turned up in Parliament’s grounds. Protesters suddenly had money to spend and he had no doubt that money came from offshore – Russia, he said.
Whoa! That came completely out of left field. My astonishment was shared by my fellow journalist David McLoughlin, who was also at the session and like me, thought Mallard’s claim was bizarre. No explanation was offered as to why Vladimir Putin should spend millions paying for anti-vax protesters to camp in comfort in the most distant capital in the world. Payback for New Zealand supporting sanctions against Russia following the Ukraine invasion, perhaps? Not totally implausible, but it's the sort of far-fetched scenario that only an over-active imagination might come up with. Neither was it clear why the allegation had never emerged before.
Certainly there was feverish talk in 2022, some of it from the excitable, conspiracy-obsessed Sanjana Hattotuwa of the Disinformation Project (remember them?), about alleged Russian-sourced disinformation. Canada too was identified as a source of malevolent anti-vax propaganda, Jacinda Ardern noting the supposedly incriminating evidence that Canadian flags were being flown in the protest camp. But Russia spending millions on tents and sleeping bags? That was a new one.
Surprisingly, despite two political journalists being on stage with Mallard when he made the allegation, nothing has been reported, at least to my knowledge. Here was a former senior government politician – the Speaker of the House of Representatives and subsequently ambassador to Ireland – alleging malign foreign interference in our domestic affairs. I would have thought there was a story in it (“Russia funded Wellington protest camp, says Mallard”), but apparently not. Perhaps Cooke and Hurihanganui decided it was just Mallard running off at the mouth and not worth taking any further. But previous generations of political reporters, their news antennae twitching furiously, would have been pursuing him for elaboration.
What, if anything, should we make of it? For me it had echoes of former Waitakere mayor and Labour grandee Bob Harvey’s startling allegation in 2000 – similarly unsubstantiated – that the CIA was involved in the death of Norman Kirk, which had even his friend Helen Clark looking sideways at him. Mallard’s claim has the same slightly loony, off-the-wall quality. If he has evidence, he should front up with it. Otherwise people will be justified in concluding it was a case of Mallard in Fantasyland.
Karl du Fresne, a freelance journalist, is the former editor of The Dominion newspaper. He blogs at karldufresne.blogspot.co.nz. Where this article was sourced.
11 comments:
My mum and two of my sisters were in the crowd of protesters- nothing unwashed about any of them.
Plus i would have voted yes on Seymour’s treaty principles bill and often make submissions on matters where race based privilege seems to be weaving its way into our lives.
Lucky I wasn’t at the book festival.
I would have found it challenging not to openly challenge or heckle such lame speakers….I wouldn’t have just quietly left the room.
The protest at parliament began Feb 6 2022 and was over a month later in early March, Russia invaded Ukraine on 24th February of 2022. Something tells me that Putin might have been a bit preoccupied with what was happening in his own backyard, rather than choosing to channel funds for air mattresses and folding chairs from the Warehouse to a bunch of nutters from Wainuiomata camping on Wellington’s parliament lawn. But if Trev says so, it must be true. Labour politicians, it must be remembered, were the “single source of truth!”
I walked around the protest one afternoon and what I saw was nothing like what was being reported. Very disappointing to see how the media twisted things. Didn't want to harm the caring image the then PM had. Congratulations for sitting through the rubbish from the speakers you mention
Well said, Karl. To expand on your points about Trevor Mallard's claims about the protest camp at Parliament, like you I found them bizarre. He not only said Russia had funded the camp by providing the money for buying all the tents there, he said he turned on the sprinklers (one night early in the occupation) because the campers were defecating on the lawns and the sprinklers were needed to clean up the grass.
Unlike Trevor and most journalists, I walked through the protesters multiple times from the start of the protest to near its end, using my journalistic eye and my camera. My workplace was in Hill Street next to Parliament and I often walked between my work and the railway station twice daily, passing through Parliament grounds on the way.
I found the protesters an interesting mix of ordinary people with a variety of causes. Some were oddball conspiracy theorists who believed Bill Gates had put microchips in the Covid 19 vaccine, but they seemed a smallish minority Many people there were opposed to the compulsory vaccinations that by refusing they had lost their jobs. At least half the protesters were women, many with young children. I loved the "my body my choice" slogans worn by some of the women, as the origin of that slogan was the anti-abortion movement of the 1970s many of the media and other critics of the protesters would have supported. Many were Māori, with the Tino Rangatiratanga and 1834 United Tribes flags flying all over the grounds.
But had they defecated on the lawns? Looking back at my many photos and what I wrote at the time, I doubt many had. I marvelled on the second day of the protest that rows of portaloos had been set up for the occupiers. Why crap in a public space in full view of Trevor looking down from his window high above if you had a private loo to use? The sprinkler night (accompanied by Trevor playing Baby Shark and Barry Manilow over the loudspeakers) was some days after the portaloos arrived. However, I accept Trevor wouldn't have made it up, so he presumably saw at least one person crap in public.
But millions of dollars in Russian-funded brand-new tents from local stores? I think that's highly improbable. I've got dozens of photos of the camp and its dozens and dozens of tents. No two tents seem alike. They appear to be a variety of ages, colours and styles, most of them two-person types or slightly bigger. They do not look as if they had come new from a few camping stores. I suspect the campers brought them from their homes, which were all about the country. They would also not have cost anything like a million dollars or more in total. I looked up the prices of such tents yesterday. You can buy them for as little as $58, with $200 to $300 each being common.
Let me close with a paragraph I wrote on Day 18 of the 23-day protest, to give the typical flavour of what I observed:
"The front lawns are occupied almost totally by tents. Food stalls, portaloos, mobile-phone charging stations and more suggest many people here are prepared for a long occupation. But there seem fewer people there now; there are also fewer cars, trucks, campervans and so on blocking the immediate streets. It's what I'd imagine a hippy festival was like (they were before my time really). It is a festive place in the bright sunshine, with singers and music. Strikingly, women (often with young children) are dominant. The causes remain a wide variety from anti-vax to global conspiracies. Meanwhile, in the real world beyond, Russia invaded Ukraine overnight."
Mallard (Esq.) - The taste of 'real' Guinness must have been to much!
A gentleman, who always, if memory serves, was always at odds with brain engaging. mouth opening and speaking - and memory also serves, whilst The Speaker, he seemed more at home, looking after the "babies", for those Mothers, who sat on The Benches, during the sitting of Parliament, who had other more important "things" to attend to, than look after their children.
It would be interesting to know, what Trev, actually gained for NZ, whilst in Ireland - a Country that many years ago went to great lengths to "undermine" our dairy exports to Europe & UK.
If it was not for Karl, we would not know what happens in Rural NZ.
I loved the "my body my choice" slogans worn by some of the women, as the origin of that slogan was the anti-abortion movement of the 1970s
Some journalist I am, unable even to proof-read myself properly. The slogan of course is from the "pro-abortion movement." Mea culpa.
Did Mallard make any reference to his being recalled from the Ireland diplomatic post? Winston Peters recalled him but reasons were not made public. Mallard was very close to the end of his term in the post and there was no apparent need for Peters to pull Mallard out “late in the game”. My guess is Peters left it as long as possible to “do the dirty” on Mallard, to settle old scores so to speak. Peters also took the opportunity to sack Phil Goff from the London post for comments about Trump.
Finlayson’s joke has been around for a while and is becoming a wee bit tiresome. It is worth noting that Finlayson was a list MP throughout his years in Parliament. He may have been a bit gun shy when it came to electorate politics.
Moderator, you obviously did not like my earlier post regarding Finlayson, but I assure you it is true and in my mind he remains a bete noire of massive proportions and has damaged the NZ social scene irreparably.
Now that you put it like that, all is well, Allen.........
I am sorry for those people who did not visit the Parliamentary Protest . I did, and and it was a wonderful potpourri of NZ culture. I can guarantee people like yourself were present there . Those who were damaged by the vax or lost their jobs came from all stratas and shades of society . There were street people to entrepreneurs . It was wonderful . People who gave free hugs , bikies on powerful bikes and leather jackets saying LOVE. There were toddlers playing with bright yellow plastic ducks, in Mallard's puddles . There were Hare Kirsna chanting , Christians singing , New Zealand Doctors standing on Science, on platforms talking to the crowd, free haircuts , massages , rows of freshly planted lettuces in the formal native plant borders,tents of all sorts some patched , ... Putin's really.The free food was fantastic with great variety gluten free , vegetarian , vegan which may have been the sole reason for some attending . I wore a Canadian T shirt with a maple leaf , as a reminder of the Canadian Truckies protest . Remember that ? Was once graced by a visit from Mallard ; he came quite unprepared for an understanding of what his visit was about. That is the issue - no deep thought just anything that pops up in his mind and while you scramble to consider what on earth he meant , he has moved on.
"Book festivals are not noted for their openness to ideas and opinions that challenge prevailing orthodoxies."
This article illustrates why many of us don't bother with them. Far too much echo chamber for our taste.
Chris Finlayson: old Lemon Lips, as he was known in this household. When he was an MP, he was disliked by many of us voters.
Trevor Mallard and the claim about Russia. Oh dear...though it did give this household a good laugh. And we had cause to wonder whether the poitín had got to his brain, while he was in Ireland?
"Payback for New Zealand supporting sanctions against Russia following the Ukraine invasion, perhaps?"
Nope. As another commenter has pointed out above, the SMO didn't begin until after the protest was encamped at parliament.
As I recall, sanctions against Russia began in 2014, following the US-supported putsch in Kiev. We have extended family connections to the Donbass, and to the east of the Ukraine generally. We're very well acquainted with the history of that area.
I remember that, at the time of the 2014 putsch, NZ was partway through negotiating a FTA with Russia. Negotiations were abandoned: a pity in the current environment, where access to fuel from the ME is constrained. Although I must concede that, had NZ actually managed to negotiate a FTA with Russia, Uncle Sam would have done his best, either to white-ant it, or to strongarm our government into abandoning it.
"....he would have demanded a recount."
I think the voters in that electorate might well have beaten him to it.
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